Arunachal Pradesh could not field an under-19 side on Thursday, and their Ranji Trophy opener on Sunday is now in doubt
A court fight between two factions of the state association has left no one able to pick Arunachal’s team for their Plate Group opener against Nagaland in Ahmedabad.
Oct 9, 2026
Arunachal Pradesh are due to play Nagaland in Ahmedabad on Sunday, the opening day of the new Ranji Trophy season. Two days out, nobody can say whether they will turn up. A fight between two factions of the state association has ended up before the Itanagar bench of the Gauhati High Court, and until the court rules, no one in the state has the authority to pick a team.
It has already cost them one fixture. Arunachal could not field their under-19 side for a Vinoo Mankad Trophy game against Sikkim in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, and that match was forfeited.
How it got here
The association held its elections in September, and Nabam Vivek was elected president. Six district associations, Lower Siang, Upper Subansiri, Kamle, Tawang, West Siang and Papum Pare, then went to court alleging irregularities in the polls and asked for a fresh election. The court put an interim stay on the association’s functioning and has since reserved its order.
That stay is also what keeps the BCCI out. “There is a stay order from the court and the BCCI cannot step in,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI. “There is no one running the state body. Until the court gives the clearance, we cannot do anything.”
The board has run state cricket before, with committees set up to take charge in Bihar, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. This time its hands are tied. With the case still sub judice, it cannot even name an independent selection panel for Arunachal, as it once did for Bihar.
Players left waiting
The professional players Arunachal signed for this season have not been told whether to report in Ahmedabad. The match is on Ground A at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, and the other four Plate sides, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim, start the same day.
If the order does not come in the next 48 hours, it is hard to see how Arunachal get eleven players on the field. And the problem would not stop at one game. They are due to play Sikkim in Nadiad from 18 October and Manipur in Ahmedabad from 26 October.
Arunachal were one of nine new sides the BCCI added to the domestic calendar for the 2018-19 season, and they lost their first Ranji match to Meghalaya in Shillong. Whether they play their next one is now down to a judge in Itanagar.